Geometrics Inventor Wins National Award

Dr. Mark Prouty, President of Geometrics presents his award winning research

SERDP Project of The Year for Munitions Management

Development of a Micro-Fabricated Total-Field Magnetometer (MM-1512) wins Project of the Year. The project was led more specifically by Dr. Mark Prouty, President/CTO of Geometrics, Inc.

Magnetometers are one of two primary sensors used for munitions detection. Current generation magnetometers are about the size of a one-litre water bottle, cost tens of thousands of dollars each and require big, cumbersome battery packs that consume copious amounts of power. Multiple sensor arrays of these magnetometers are possible only on large complex platforms.

Building on previous efforts to develop miniaturized atomic clocks, Dr. Prouty and his team developed a new magnetometer sensor that is the size of a penny. The sensor’s reduced weight, power requirements, and cost provide an opportunity for designing novel magnetometer based munitions detections systems. This allows for entirely new ways to configure sensors, which will help D-o-D realize its goal of producing more effective, efficient, and less expensive methods for detecting military munitions on thousands of sites throughout the United States.